WhatsApp was introduced as a mobile phone app when it was first launched, but over the years, it has made its way to other operating systems as well. Be it WhatsApp Web or the dedicated desktop app, the platform has transcended that status of a mobile application, but still, it heavily relies on mobile phones to be able to work on other devices. Well, not anymore. WhatsApp has announced that it is FINALLY rolling out the limited public beta test for its improved multidevice capability.
The feature has been in demand for a long time now, since it seemed like an obvious addition. However, while it may feel like this is a small change, the technological challenge was huge, even by Facebook’s standards.
As we all know (since Facebook continues to brag about it every chance it gets), WhatsApp has end to end encryption, which means that a message can only be seen by the sender and the receiver. What this means is that every text is encrypted, and can only be seen using a key that transfers between the two connecting devices.
Making sure that end to end encryption was still intact, regardless of how many devices access an account was no small feat, and the company had to go back to the drawing board to solve this challenge.
“To achieve this, we had to rethink WhatsApp’s architecture and design new systems to enable a standalone multi-device experience while preserving privacy and end-to-end encryption,” the company wrote. “Each message is individually encrypted using the established pairwise encryption session with each device. Messages are not stored on the server after they are delivered.”
With this new update, users will be able to operate one account on up to 4 different non phone devices, without worrying if the actual phone is connected to the internet or not. What this means, in essence, is that each “Each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently,” as the messaging app said in a post.
With this, users will not have to worry about their phone’s internet connection when they are using their WhatsApp account on different devices. As a regular WhatsApp Web user myself, this is a welcome addition.
The company has not made any announcement about when the feature will be launched for all of its users. Nonetheless, we expect it to change the way people use the app.
